The hyperbole from the left over Todd Akin has been disgusting. The man truly believes that children who are conceived out of rape should not be killed. The Bible teaches us that God raised us up from the dust of the earth and stitched us together in our mothers’ wombs.When you believe that, as Congressman Akin does, then it is asking much to tear apart what God has stitched together.The left would make this about his poor word choices. Some have actually accused the Congressman of being “pro-rape.” Congressman Akin said something dumb and inarticulate. But God bless him for trying to explain why so many Christians do not believe in an exception for rape and believe that to have one could see an increase in the number of claims of rape that are not actual rapes (“legitimate” rapes in his words), but are claims of rape used to justify an abortion when abortion is otherwise prohibited.It’s a terribly difficult position for politicians to defend, particularly in hyper-partisan climates. The Congressman tried and failed. On Thursday night he exacerbated the problem by agreeing to sit with Piers Morgan on CNN and then not showing up.I would rather Todd Akin in the United States Senate than Claire McCaskill. He said something he should not have. Claire McCaskill voted for Obamacare.Todd Akin should not have to withdraw from the Senate race in Missouri. But given how quickly party leaders sought to distance themselves from Todd Akin and pull money from Missouri, there is not much left for him to do. By 5 o’clock today, Todd Akin must withdraw.Please click here to read the rest of the post.

Recently, a long term friend and I got into a discussion about abortion over a few glasses of scotch. The debate devolved quickly into an outright fight. I held firm in the position that abortion was either a form of murder, and was therefore wrong in all instances where the physical life of the mother wasn’t threatened, or it wasn’t. The friend insisted that there must be exceptions in instances of rape or incest.A few days after the argument with my friend I went to talk to my mother about the entire incident. My mother is politically active and also has a lifetime of experience as a nurse. Unbeknownst to me, in my almost 36 years of existence, my mother was the product of a rape.Please click here to read the rest of the post.

Somehow, it seems that the folks at the International Longshoremen’s Association misunderstood Candidate Barack Obama’s 2008 statement: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”Please click here to read the rest of the post.

As U.S. and NATO forces have begun to withdraw from Afghanistan, problems previously manageable for the Afghan air force have become serious concerns, with no resolution in sight. As of June, the majority of their helicopters joined already grounded cargo planes deemed unfit to fly due to maintenance and safety issues such as missing parts, a lack of spare parts, and generally just being old. Their fleet is comprised of mostly Russian-made aircraft, with contributions from the U.S., the United Arab Emirates and other nations. According to Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, the situation is actually worse than it was 20 years ago. ”When I was chief of staff of the Afghan army, I had 450 types of air assets. Today, we have 102. One hundred two, but mostly on the ground,” says Wardak. However, maintenance and safety problems aren’t the only issues that are keeping them grounded. The Afghan air force has been struggling with recruitment.Please click here to read the rest of the post.

The Democrats in general, and Obama in particular, rely on winning college-age voters by large margins. According to the NY Times exit polls, in the past 4 elections, Democrats carried the 18-29 year old vote 53-34 (Clinton vs Dole), 48-46 (Gore vs Bush), 54-45 (Kerry vs Bush) and 66-32 (Obama vs McCain). In the same four elections, Democrats won first-time voters 54-34, 52-43, 53-45 and 69-30. CNN’s exit polls had Obama winning voters age 18-24 (10% of the electorate) by 66-32 and 25-29 (8%) by 66-31, while McCain won a slight majority among the 64% of the voters age 40 and over. (The gap was especially pronounced among white voters, who went for Obama 54-44 in the under-30 age cohort but which McCain won by some 17 points among white voters over 30). Both sets of exit polls pegged new voters at 11% of the 2008 electorate.Please click here to read the rest of the post.